Joyce Steins, 52; Restaurant Owner Supported the Arts

By WOLFGANG SAXON

Published: August 17, 1995

Joyce Steins, a supporter of the arts and social causes who owned and operated several trendy Manhattan restaurants before retiring three years ago, died on Sunday in Riverhead Hospital on Long Island. A West Side resident, she was 52.

The cause was breast cancer, O. Aldon James Jr., a close friend, said.

Most recently she was the founder, owner and operating manager of Cafe Iguana on Park Avenue South, at 19th Street, a multilevel 225-seat Tex-Mex restaurant that had a strong following. Ms. Steins, the self-styled Mama Iguana, often went from table to table, extending personal greetings and chatting with regulars. The restaurant went out of business with her retirement.

She was born in Manhattan, and graduated with degrees in English and anthropology from the University of Hawaii. She was working on the staff of the American Museum of Natural History when a restaurateur interested her in the business. Changing course, she became a bus girl.

Twenty years later, in the early 1970's, she became an owner of El Rio Grande on East 38th Street, followed by Le Bar Bat on West 57th Street, a restaurant decorated with flying bats of blue, handblown glass. She later sold her stakes in them. Both remain in business.

She used her establishments for fund-raisers to benefit arts organizations and agencies combating AIDS, multiple sclerosis and child abuse.

Ms. Steins is survived by her sister, Loretta Friedman of West Hampton, L.I.